posted Tue, 02/03/2015 - 13:08
3126
Any gym owners?
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Anyone on here own or run a gym?
An opportunity has presented itself to buy a local gym that is currently failing and hence possibly obtainable "a touch on the cheap". It's something I've considered in the past as an investment which considering how poor current savings interests rates are, looks more attractive than it has previously.
I'm fully aware it's never going to be a big money spinner, but there's some history involved that's tempting me to dive in.
Anyone with experience I'd appreciate your input.
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How's your gym going?
It's going good. I've moved away from the area (about 90miles), so it's left in the hands of my best mate to run largely without my involvement now. Turning a small profit, I miss the place if I'm honest.
Did you revamp and renovate to the newer era of gyms or is it a golds gym type with old school equiptment. I love a gym with a mixture of both. But gyms like that are EXTREMELY hard to find. I'm a member of 2 gyms formerly 3. Had a state of the art one to a mediocre one to a whole in the wall gym. All have their perks. Glad your gym is up and moving. Did you keep the brand or is it your own brand? Few franchises are worth the buy.
There's a mixture of old school and new equipment. It was all old stuff before, benches covered in tape etc. Looks a lot more upmarket now.
I keep the name of the gym, (been there nearly twenty years), but made new logos, signage etc that look modern and more inviting.
RustyhookerHardcore updated. I bet the members appreciated all that new life added
Lot of nice hammer strength gear in there now. All the tatty old shit is completely gone. Frustrating part is how much people mistreat your equipment. People have no idea how expensive a simple looking lat pull down is for example.
People have no idea how much any of that stuff cost. Very, very expensive. Even used. And the saddest part is, most people don't care and wouldn't take care of it anyway. Somehow $30 a mo entitles you to do whatever you want.
RustyhookerPeoples mentality is "its not mine". Sometimes though just having a fancier or refurbished new piece pushes folks into taking care. Or things will erode.
DO not hesitate bro........... you know when we started to run the Bootcamps (2yrs ago approx) ... and you also know Suze runs them singlehanded.... well we had to upgrade the premises because its got so damn busy!.... i wont list no figures here but if you want in depth info you know were i am
(Its gone ballistic)
CONGRATS :))...... if you want big names around on the opening day.... i can arrange that too (for a fee lmfao)
Thanks mate. Needs a big pile of cash (I guess £50K) to get it looking like less of a dungeon / pit which is a bit of a turn off for some that come in and have a look round. Once that's done I'll pretty much leave it in the hands of my best mate.
3 months and I'll show you some before and after pics.
Well, as of Friday I now own a gym.....
Congrats, that has always been a dream of mine.
Congrats bro!
Cogragilations man! Best of luck in the new endeavor. Your turn to keep stupid kids like me in line
Fantastic! So happy for you brother Catalyst! You only live once, follow your heart and your dreams! Great news that filled me with joy!
If ever I'm across the pond, I'll hit you up and we can train together!
My sincerest Congratulations brother!
You know you'd always be welcome in my guy and my house T.
I'll be taking a backseat and letting my best mate run it. No delusions of it being a retirement fund, but it's a place I love and want to see stay open even if it does put a dent in my bank balance.
Why Thank you Catalyst my friend and the feeling is all to mutual! If you're ever in the states, hit me up, my home is your home! :))
If it's a place you love it will only grow and prosper! I'm certain you'll be putting your heart and soul into this! To reiterate, I'm really happy and excited for you!
Hope there's a decent discount for eroid members lol.
Congratulations, I'd love to have my own one day.
Only the women.
As of 6am tomorrow no more muscle bound guys allowed, only attractive women in tight clothing ;)
you are going to lose your ass with that plan... women don't go to the gym to see other women in tight clothing ..
In my head they do
Ironically I walk into MY gym this morning and what's the first thing I see? A 250lb fella deadlifting with his hairy bum crack showing out of the top of tight lycra leggings. That's not what I had in mind.......
lmfao... sorry .. THAT is funny
Just ruined 2 of my favorite fantasies :(
Haha, all strippers get free memberships. And bring your friends!
How did you get to read my business plan?
I dont personally own or manage but some very close friends are . And honestly they break even , enough to cover the over head but theres really no profit .
With them it isnt the profit , its there passion , its where there comfortable and they take great pride in there gym. So if its for a profit id say no. If its to futher enjoy your passion among like minded brothers , go for it.
That's where I think I'd be doing it for all the wrong reasons Pege. Opening a business to not make anything / much isn't a reason to do it really. I have a highly paid secure job, this would almost be a "toy" just because it's something I've always wanted. That's not a real smart reason to invest large quantities of cash if I'm honest.
Have pizza Friday's, remove all the heavy weights, and cater to the cardio/ almost crossfit group, and you'll make millions.
Unfortunately that's the way to make cash it seems.
Cat, I manage a gym and am the head trainer here. One of my best friends owns the place. It's a clean, well lit, air conditioned place. I see the ins and outs of the financial side. With that said, I'd never get into the gym business to make money. Almost all of our money comes from personal training. The gym breaks even and it's a constant headache for my buddy. If you decide to buy your gym, do it for reasons other than financial gain.
That's good info, and what I thought to be the case, thanks. There's no PT there, an area I always thought was one of the few add ons that would make money.
I may drop you a line if that's ok?
PT is also very popular at our gym. Group training in particular seems to be the thing right now. It actually works out pretty good for everybody. They pay 8-10 bucks to be in the group for that day and the group is usually 6-10 or so, so the trainer and the gym make out pretty well. Our gym is pretty small compared to the big city tho so these numbers may not represent a larger market.
That's exactly the sort of thing I've seen elsewhere that I was thinking of. To me it's s bit like a restaurant, you make nothing out of the food it's all the peripherals.
The trick is finding the right trainers. I have seen a ton of them come and go in my 6 years at our gym now. The one young dude they have had for the last year really has taken it up several notches. I have seen him take women and knock 100 lbs off them with my own two eyes. Even my wife likes doing his classes even tho she teaches her own,lol. He has that ability to inspire these people to work and that is a rare gift.
My best mate is an ex Royal Marine Commando. Idea being to give him the reigns and run with it. As far as PT work goes, this guys is as good as it gets. Doesn't hurt that he's one hell of a good looking boy that the ladies like
As long as he remembers he is not dealing with soldiers, housewives are a different breed, however they can still be quite deadly.
I think about three quarters of his current customers are ladies, which is where this place would need to change as it's not appealing to that market at present. Thankfully he's married with kids and his Mrs would surgically remove his balls if he messed around. I certainly wouldn't piss her off
Finding the right trainers can be tricky. Some clients care who they train with, but most do not. I look for young, competent, responsible guys that will show up for sessions and won't fuck the clients. I mean literally fuck them. That's a reputation, as a gym, that you cannot afford. Anyway, after that, it's simple. Set a price for hour and 1/2 hour sessions. The gym gets 1/2, the trainer gets 1/2. Easy money.
Nothing like professionalism eh?
Same deal they have up here. And yes, fucking the clients is no good. We had one that was doing that, he ended up quitting and starting his own gym, lol. Before he quit he copied all of our forms, stole the entire client list and from what I understand is still fucking the clients, lol
Absolutely
Well, my wife runs the front desk and does a lot of the admin stuff at our gym. The reason this gym is so successful is they market hard to senior citizens. Not sure how it would work on your side of the pond but here they have a program called silver sneaker where the insurance company pays most of their gym dues.
This definitely isn't the sort of place where you'd see senior citizens. In a fairly rough area, classic sort of dungeon iron works where people wipe their feet on the way out ;)
An English spit and sawdust gym?
Love em lol
Exactly that.